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The Orion spacecraft carrying a 24-story Delta-4 Heavy rocket was originally scheduled to blast off from Cape Canaveral at 7:05 a.m. Thursday, but the countdown was put on hold several times for a variety of issues throughout the morning.

Initially, NASA officials delayed the launch because a sail boat was in the danger area near the launch pad and moments later another hold was issued due to problematic wind gusts.

Minutes before the launch window ended at 9:44 a.m., NASA officials announced the launch was scrubbed due to issues with the Orion’s valves.

NASA officials said they were going to make a last-minute attempt at troubleshooting the valves in the spacecraft’s common core boosters, but they ran out of time.

Teams said they needed more time to access what the issue is and a new launch window was scheduled for 7:05 a.m. Friday.

Although there were some slight weather concerns, NASA’s second attempt at a launch went as planned on Friday.

The rocket carried the Orion on its unmanned maiden launch. It is the only flight until 2018 -- seven years after the shuttle -- as the U.S. inches toward its grand goal of sending astronauts to an asteroid, the moon and Mars.

"You're going to see us press harder than we have before, because for the first time in 40 years, this nation is going to launch a spacecraft intended to carry humans beyond low earth orbit," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "That's a big deal."

The Orion made a successful splash landing in the Pacific Ocean at 11:29 a.m. Friday.

The Orion's 3,800-mile trip into space proved it can maneuver and withstand a 4,000-degree return to earth.